It's always darkest before the dawn
by ChestnutBrumby
Summary: Extended version of the epic final battle of Breaking Dawn: Part 2 Keeps fairly true to the movie's events, though contains a closer look at both sides of the conflict. Emotion runs high and deaths on both sides make this a battle not soon to be forgotten... who will remain standing in the aftermath? Works best as movie-verse. Rated T for graphic violence. MAJOR movie spoilers.


**Warning: This fanfic contains MAJOR spoilers for anybody who has not seen the ending of Breaking Dawn: Part 2. **

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"Alice!" Esme's voice came out in a sob of relief, Rosealie and Carsile echoing her a split second later. "Alice!" Emmett's voice boomed with joy. Kate, still leaning against Garrett for support, looked up at him in amazement, gold eyes on ruby. "Alice!" She murmured to him. Carmen and Eleazar exclaimed together, calling out the name with voices raised high in warm welcome. "Alice." Maggie looked smug, catching the light of truth she could see Alice carrying towards their side.

Jasper flanked his mate protectively, sparing only a quick nod to his family as they passed by, headed for the Volturi. Alice glanced over too, worry clouding her eyes - she didn't meet anybody's gaze, just glanced over them all, as if assuring herself they were safe.

This might not yet turn out the way they wanted it to.

"My dear, _dear_ Alice, we're _so_ glad to see you here after all." Aro was all but purring. The prize he wanted above all others was finally, finally within his reach. Behind his shoulder Jane smirked, holding herself at the ready. Alice, lips pursed into a thin line, pushed impatiently at the guards restraining her. Jasper had likewise been blocked in, a smirking Demetri standing in front of him.

"I have evidence the child will not be a threat to our kind." Alice implored, extending a hand to Aro between two Volturi in her way. "Let me show you."

"Brother." Cauis sounded impatient. Aro gestured Alice forward, and she pushed past the guards, chin held high, and offered her hand to Aro. He grabbed it greedily, placed his other hand over hers, ever controlling.

Jasper flinched to see his mate so close to Aro, and Demetri insolently slapped his face. Jasper's gold eyes never left Alice, though he grunted at the impact.

Alice's narrow gaze watched as he absorbed her visions, still and silent for these precious few seconds while he sorted, calculated, and schemed. It was easy for her to understand what would happen next, since his mind was already made up.

"It doesn't matter what I show you." Aro's tilted his head, politely curious. "Even when you see, you still won't change your decision." There was a hard accusation in her tone. Carlisle leaned forward, on the balls of his feet, almost in physical pain at seeing his daughter, fearless, brave Alice, standing up to Aro.

They all knew now what he was capable of. But not everyone assembled believed it possible that he would actually go through with it. Jasper felt the hope fading - from his family, from the Denalis, from everyone on their side of the battlefield.

Alice turned her back on the smirking Aro. "Now!" she mouthed to Bella, who turned with an agonized look to Jacob and her daughter. Renesmee looked down from her perch atop Jacob's shoulders, protest arguing with the resignation on her small, too-wise face. Bella reached up to touch her hand, hoping that one day, the note she had left her daughter would make up for this moment and all the pain Renesmee was feeling. Jacob, not yet understanding Alice's desperate instruction, turned his great red-furred head to Bella.

"Keep my daughter safe." Bella ordered him in a tone that allowed no room for argument. Edward turned to her as well, his face echoing a more human horror than the still-recognizable expression on Jacob's canine features. Then with a powerful bound, the red wolf turned and raced off through the snow. On the fringes of the group poised for battle, Leah snarled in shock and leaped back as if he had turned to flames, unable to believe what she was hearing in Jacob's thoughts.

_Jacob, don't leave us! They need you!_ Howled Leah silently. Jacob couldn't form a coherent response. Instead, he let the full force of his bond with Renesmee pour through the shared pack connection as he reached the timberline. Leah, Seth, Quil and Embry all flinched, and Quil flattened his ears.

_We have to let him go, Leah!_ He shouted silently._ We'll fight for you, Jake! Keep her safe! _Never had Jacob been so grateful to his closest friend. Who, in all liklihood, was about to loose his life, along with the rest of his pack. It nearly tore Jacob in two to be running when he longed to stand with his brothers and sister, but the connection he felt for Nessie overrode that primal desire to defend his pack.

You're_ their Alpha now, Leah_. He said simply in goodbye, the sorrow and grief of the moment infusing every thought.

"Get them." Caius spoke to Santiago, standing at his left shoulder, who took off after the wolf and the child. At the same time, without warning, Alice dropped into a spinning kick that caught Aro under the chin. Belying her tiny frame, the Volturi leader went flying. He turned, catlike, while he was still airborne. The strength of the blow was evident when he landed, forced to dig a hand into the snow to slow himself, finally standing up straight with an icy calm in his crimson eyes.

On the opposite side of the battlefield, the Egyptians drew closer to one another, Kebi taking Amun's arm. Benjamin glanced at his coven leader's horrified, nervous expression, touched his shoulder to Tia's in reassurance, then lifted his chin defiantly. He was not going to spend his life in the shadows just to please Amun. Today, he and Tia fought to defend their freedom - and he was ready. Garrett hovered behind Kate's shoulder, locking his resolute gaze on Alec. _This isn't going to play out the way you think it is. I'm watching you_, thought the nomad, itching for action already.

Alice startled as two guards grabbed her arms. "Take her away." Ordered Aro's rich tones, and Alice was dragged backwards. The group across the battlefield flinched, shifting forward. As one, Sam and his pack dropped into ready crouches, braced against the snow, snarls ripping from their muzzles. There was a sharp exhale from Jasper, held back by two guards himself. He knew what those seemingly innocent words meant.

So did Carlisle. He may have been gentle by nature, compassionate, but at his core he strength was the love he held for his family. To stand by while Aro betrayed him and sentenced Alice to death was beyond his tolerance. "Let her go!" He roared, in motion before the sound died. A pair of grey-cloacked guards charged forward to stop him. Carlisle struck a blow that spun one sideways and dug him into the snowy terrain, knocking the second high into the air. That was all he needed to draw close enough, tensing and launching in one heartbeat.

Aro watched the blonde figure sailing through the air, eyes slightly narrowed, calculating. It was clear _he_ was the target. Predatory as he sized Carlisle's attack, Aro didn't wait for him to draw close enough for Renata's power to kick in.

That wasn't his goal.

He pushed off gracefully and intercepted his old friend in the air. Aro made a neat landing, smiling as he did so, still sure of himself, sure that soon his greatest conquests would be numbered among his Guard. His lips parted in a devilish grin, knowing that this would be the trigger that would set it all off.

He held up Carlisle's head to the sound of Esme's scream.

Time froze.

Bella's jaw dropped, while Edward's golden eyes rounded to twin pools of horror at her side. _It couldn't be true_. Desperately, Edward reached out his mind to his father, the man who had stood by him all these decades, believing that somehow it wasn't happening. That he would feel the familiar warm touch of Carlisle's thoughts. The emptiness when he could not threatened to break him in two.

Garrett's stoic expression fell and lost every inch of his former determination to an appalled gasp. Benjaman looked as if he were about to pass out, had that been possible. Maggie's lips parted in a silent scream, a dismayed Siobhan reaching for her, trembling. Tanya let out a keening wail at the second personal blow in such a short time, while Zafrina snarled. Caius swung a lit torch, bringing it down upon Carlisle's body.

All hell broke loose with the leaping flames.

The Cullens were the first to break. Emmett moved first, roaring in fury as he embraced the anger, pushed aside the grief for _after_ he'd torn these murderers limb from limb. Edward and Bella overtook him in a few steps. Garrett led the Denalis right behind then, cold anger burning his eyes a brighter red, ready to protect the vegetarians from the coming onslaught, even at the cost of his own life. Stefan and Vladimir stayed close in the center of the group, eagerness alive in their faces - Vladimir was outright grinning, a strangely savage expression on his smooth and pale face.

Paul and Jared, on either side of Sam, were literally rearing to go. Sam snarled his orders at both of them, knowing that over this distance they were faster, knowing that if they were ahead, they would die first and be of no use when the fighting began. A bitter part of his mind wondered if he would ever get to see Emily again.

Aro raised his hands and towards their attackers came the Volturi Guard.

_NOW!_ The mental roar set the wolves free and in tandem they were in motion, four limbs powering each muscular body to catch up with the vampires in just instants.

On a ridge at the timberline, Jacob slowed to a trot and cast one final glance back.

The space between the two armies dwindled, then vanished, and they struck with enough force to level mountains.

Garrett ducked under Afton's arm, letting Tanya and Kate work together to tackle the elusive guard member, as he pounced on a grey-cloak who's name he didn't know, and whom he'd never get the occasion to ask. Alec went soaring over his head to hit the snow hard, though still intact - Vladimir had dealt him a frightening blow, which, while it certainly would have killed any mortal, did have the side effect of removing Alec from the furious Romanian's reach.

Jasper broke free of his guards, falling back into the old pattern of fighting his own kind it was hard to believe he'd ever stopped. He ripped off an arm, plowed the next into the ground by using his weight in a flip, and tore the head off a third. A darker cloak stepped forward - the lean, wiry tracker, Demetri. After leading countless missions for the Volturi, he was not as easy a target, even for Jasper. The pair began to grapple for the upper hand when the worst of fates interfered.

Jane stepped calmly up behind Jasper. Her eyes narrowed when he didn't react to her mental suggestion to suffer the pain of being burned alive, and she soon figured out why - Bella stood but a few paces away, fists clenched as she shielded Jasper, who delivered a crunching blow to his opponent's face, fracturing the skin on Demetri's cheek. Jane felt the first stab of fear. Jasper was overpowering him - her tracker might have only seconds to live.

Jane twisted her head ever so slightly to where a gasping and very angry Alec was picking himself up. He responded instantly to his twin, and lowering his slight shoulder, he built up as much speed as he could. Bella turned towards him in the last second. Between her newborn strength and her shield, he couldn't hope to beat her. But that wasn't what Jane had silently instructed him to do. Both twins knew that it would only take the slightest of lapses in concentration.

"Urgh!" Bella hit the ground and she and Alec rolled several times, snow flying everywhere. Her shield slipped back automatically to protect her own mind. Jane's gaze returned to her victim.

The blast of her talent now inescapable, Jasper instantly let his intended victim go, staggering back two steps. Demetri gasped for a second, thankful when he recognized Jane's rescue. For the first time in many years, he had feared for his life. Alice hauled against the guards who held her, but her small figure couldn't budge them more than a step, and by then it was too late.

Bella surged up and belted Alec several times in quick succession, giving in to her aggressive newborn tendencies, unaware of Felix now too, looming behind Jasper, hauling him to his feet while a vengeful Demetri advanced. He slashed out with one hand, lining up the blow carefully.

Alice screamed.

Bella delivered a vicious kick to Alec's chest that spun him out of the fight. Her face contorted with horror when she realized exactly what her slip of concentration that cost her family - Jasper lay dead at the feet of Felix. Emmett snapped a neck a short distance off and looked up, a clear line of sight to his sisters and what remained of his brother. Felix sprang away to tackle Amun, while Demetri carefully stepped back out of sight behind a tussling wolf and Volturi, leaving Alec picking himself up off the ground for what felt to him like the hundredth time. Before he'd lurched to his feet, Emmett charged. Rampaged might have been the better word - he hit Alec with an outstretched arm, grabbing him by the neck. Alec was smashed into the snow so hard he vanished. Emmett, tightening the grip he had around his throat every instant, ripped him back into sight then slammed him again. With a splintering sound, he snapped off Alec's head, then tossed his body some distance, to where Quil and Embry were dispatching another of their enemies.

Alice sprang into the air like a gazelle, finally breaking free of the guard who had kept her from her mate, forced to to watch while he died. She went after them, striking small but lethally precise blows as they tried to avoid her. It was an impossible task.

Unwisely, after his invisibility powers let him escape the sisters, Afton had come after Garrett, who was still fighting in close quarters with the Denalis. Afton exchanged blows with the nomad, who couldn't make out more than a shimmery blur as he tried to retaliate. "Did you think we'd finished with you?" Snarled a vengeful Kate, lunging at Afton, swiping twice before she found him and clamped her hands to his cheeks, shocking him sharply.

Chelsea had taken a fateful moment to try and break the family bonds between the Denalis, following the same pattern she had for countless years fighting for the Volturi. If they could be split apart, she could get Afton out of there. But she had never encountered a coven so difficult to overcome - and she had forgotten who had joined with the Denalis most recently.

Eleazar nodded swiftly to Carmen and they split up, coming at Chelsea from opposite sides. She gasped when Eleazar tackled her, seeing no trace of forgiveness in his strange gold eyes. Eleazar, who understood her powers, who had been with the Volturi long enough to see the pattern she was, in part, responsible for.

"No!" She wrenched backwards, out of his grasp, and spun around to flee to Afton's side. Carmen was in place and pinned her arms behind her, meeting Eleazar's gaze. He curled his lip, equally as disgusted with himself as with the Guard member - but he didn't hesitate. He landed a blow to Chelsea's neck that detached it from her body, as, at the exact same time, Tanya dispatched Afton.

Santiago spat in the snow as he followed Jacob's pawprints. Of the large, physically imposing Volturi, Caius had asked an impossible task. Santiago's talent was not speed but strength, and even with Renesmee riding on his back, Jacob was far faster than he was. Reluctant to miss a perfectly good battle, Santiago turned back towards the snowy field. Far ahead, Jacob fought not to howl aloud as he felt the battle through the minds of his pack. He and Renesmee would be safe now... but the cost was so high.

From across the battlefield, Demetri eyed Edward menacingly. Edward began to run, Jasper's dying emotions fueling the fury in his mind, and he swiped at the swift tracker. Demetri ducked, grabbing Edward by the foot and launching him several feet away. A smirk played upon his lips - it seemed he was about to dispatch two brothers in the one battle. He sprang into the air - but met an intercept. Seth sprang to the defense of his old ally, ready to fight alongside him once more.

But this was different. This wasn't the calm of the private, two-on-two battle in the mountains, where he and Edward had time to formulate a plan, work together, tag team their enemies. This was the raging melee of outright war, and Seth - laughing little Seth, wasn't prepared to face this opponent. He ripped wildly at Demetri, tearing into the tough vampire skin - and then Jane focused the full force of her pain setting upon the innocent young werewolf. For a split second his head snapped up and his teeth bared, ready to try for a spring - then the sheer agony of it ripped through him, knocked him backwards, while his golden paws scrabbled helplessly in the snow. Linked to his mind, Quil, Emrby, Leah, and further away, Jacob - all flinched painfully. But none of them were close enough.

Felix loomed up behind Seth, who was struggling to climb to his paws, trying in vain to protect his friends. The vampire grabbed the young shapeshifter around the neck and squeezed, all his barbaric strength unleashing. There was a sickening crack as Seth's spine snapped, Felix twisting his neck brutally.

Leah's head snapped up, a whine bubbling in her throat, ears that had been pinned fiercely against her head lifting, pricking towards her little brother. Not just the bond of the pack but of blood kinship between them, she existed inside her little brother's mind as he gasped his final breath, an eye rolled up, and he went completely still.

Her head lifted, her blue eyes squeezing closed as if to escape this nightmare, and she howled. Never was their a truer sound of heartbreak than the howl of a wolf. Jacob, crossing the state line now with Renesmee clinging low on his back, heard the howl like he was standing beside them still. He stumbled, recovering when Renesmee wound her fingers all the more tightly in the fur of his neck. Taking strength from her warmth, he ran and ran, knowing that no matter how far they went he would never forget the sheer agony of this moment. He felt as if he had abandoned his brothers to death.

Zafrina had blinded every Volturi Guard within her line of sight, fighting with all her vicious strength as one after another they came at her and her sister. Several of the wolf pack circled around the Amazons, picking off the stumbling targets of the Volturi guard with ease. Heidi made the mistake of leaping the border of snapping canine teeth to attack Zafrina. Knowing the experienced Volturi lure was expecting blindness, Zafrina instead conjured up exploding fire and cracking lightning, leaping jaguars and pythons the size of buses. The flinching shock Heidi displayed in reaction was all that Zafrina needed to overpower her. No more would innocents be led to the network under Volterra.

Benjamin had been frozen as the battle erupted around him. All the years Amun had kept his coven in the quietest areas of Cairo, encouraged him to develop his elemental gifts, hadn't prepared him for this. Carlisle, who he had grown to respect deeply in their few short weeks together, had been killed before them, and it rattled Benjamin more than he could express. The vampire reaction to stress had caught up with him until a wolf and a guard crashed down before him. The grey-furred wolf was getting the worst of it, on his belly with the vampire pinning him down. As Benjamin snapped out of his trance as leaped towards him, he saw the guard duck under the wolf's snapping teeth and sink his own into the grey fur. Benjamin reached them and ripped the Volturi off the wolf, tossing him blindly, letting strength dictate his reaction. He knelt by the wolf, one hand extended to help him up.

Except the wolf had gone slack, and to Benjamin's horror, his eyes suddenly rolled up as the vampire venom took hold, overriding the wolf healing factor, allowing the dozen other injuries he sustained to catch up to him. He died soundlessly, his blood staining the snow as crimson as vampire eyes, Benjamin still crouching over him.

Slowly, the elemental rose to his feet. He could see every faucet of the battle with perfect clarity, figures swirling around him, fighting, killing, murdering. Santiago, charging out of the trees and engaging Bella, who's newborn strength allowed her to survive the powerful warrior's blows. Demetri, trying to finish off Edward, pinning him on his back and snapping at his neck. Garrett, biting off more than he could chew with two opponents, being knocked to his knees by a blow to the face. He looked down at the dead wolf at his feet.

"Hrrrr-AAARRRGH!" With a wild yell Benjamin lifted his fist and punched it into the ground with full force, allowing the power to flow through him, channeling the energy of the natural world around him, shaping it to the great tear of conflict that overruled his mind.

The fracture was small at first - it stretched several yards on either side of Benjamin. Then he lifted his head, crimson eyes fierce. The fracture grew, tore through the snow and the earth the dirt and the rock, a huge furrow that spanned the entire battlefield. Still Benjamin poured his ferocity into it, and within moments there was a gorge across the clearing that gleamed, far below, with the bright flash of boiling magma.

Liam and Siobhan knocked two guards into the chasm. Bella twisted Santiago's arm, then kicked him viciously, following the first two. He screamed as he fell - it felt like a long way before the heat incinerated his body. Two of the younger wolves bounced a grey-cloak twisting and writhing to her doom, and a hundred tons of snow fell into the yawning pit, steam shooting skyward.

Esme, still distraught by Carlisle's loss, found herself caught unaware when a short, brawny Volturi caught her around the middle as he lost his balance. He tumbled into the chasm, pulling Esme with him, dragging at her and swearing. Desperately her hands grasped for purchase against the bloodstained snow, while the snapping guard hang grimly onto her, his weight pulling her into the abyss.

On the other side, Leah reared up on her hindlegs, breaking the grip of the vampire trying to throw his arms around her silver neck while another tried to forced her down. In a heartbeat, her blue eyes met Esme's.

For so long, Leah had resisted every effort the motherly vampire had made to provide Leah with home comforts - food, clothing, shelter. It would have been all too easy for the silver she-wolf to allow herself to be swayed, to come around to Esme's gentle spirit, but she had stiffly kept her distance. In that single fragment of time, Leah understood the true depth of Esme's love for her family. It was the same love, though manifested very differently, but still there, that Leah felt for her packmates. She was the only one close enough - she could not allow the Cullens to loose their mother, as well as their father. Not Esme.

The leap she made was impressive, throwing clear both vampires who had been trying to kill her while she was airborne, letting them fall to their deaths. She landed on the back of Esme's attacker and clamped her teeth in an unbreakable hold around his shoulder. Esme felt the strength of Leah's kicks against the crumbling wall, ripping him away from her as she herself fell backwards. Freed of the deadweight, Esme clung securely to the edge and looked down, vampire and wolf gazes locking. Leah whimpered once in sorrow before her ears lifted, signaling to Esme that she accepted her fate. Leah had lost so much - her father, Sam, her peaceful life, and her brother - she had given up her life in a blaze of glory to protect a family she might not have agreed with, but that she finally understood, united only for death to part them.

Felix hadn't been able to resist the challenge posed by Emmett; he casually sparred with Maggie, then both Carmen and Elezar at once, backing off when Peter and Charlotte came to join them. All the while he worked across the battlefield towards his goal. Emmett was caught by surprise when the brawny arm locked around his neck and yanked him off his feet. He regained his balance quickly and landed a solid kick on Felix's kneecap that had him stumbling, allowing Emmett to break his hold and turn to face the Volturi. He clenched oth hands together and Felix only just dodged the blow that might have been his end. Emmett, bellowing like a beast, came after him again. Felix kicked him in a place not generally considered sporting - vampire or not, the low blow doubled Emmett up. It might have been the end of this particular fight had Rosalie not joined her mate, looking all manner of pissed off. Felix laughed outright at the sight of the pretty Cullen, but the mirth stopped abruptly when Rosalie leaped at him, snapping his chin back in a close-quarter punch and rapid-fire striking his chest, neck and nose. Felix staggered a step back, clenched his fist, and snarled at Rosalie, who stood braced - then smiled sweetly at him.  
Emmett rose, locked both hands around the towering Emmett, and flung him into an arching flight. Felix screamed when instead of cold ground, he spotted the orange-red glow of lava rushing up to meet him.

Further down the battlefield, Demetri had Edward crunched up on himself, on his back, at the very edge of the precipice. He smirked as he struck the ground and sent the entire slab Edward was on into emptiness. Edward managed to clutch at a spar of rock, just stopping himself from falling altogether. Demetri stamped impatiently at the ground, and a huge chunk broke off, heading right for Edward as it fell. Demetri chuckled almost soundlessly as he turned his back.

In the gorge, Edward kicked against the wall, flipping himself backwards, carefully lining himself up as he fell, kicking off the other side. The massive boulder passed at just the right time - Edward jumped on top of it, then used it as a springboard to launch out of the pit.

Demetri never saw him coming. Edward hauled the tracker's head over his own shoulder and snapped it from his body. Jane - for the first time centuries - looked downright terrified when Demetri's lifeless corpse landed beside her. He had always projected an aura of confidence and invincibility that she had been drawn too - and now he'd been killed. She suddenly knew with equal parts horror and certainty that she would be next - and sure enough, Alice was coming for her. The petite, spiky-haired vampire began to run. Guards dived around her tackled her, but Alice slid and dodged them all. Jane braced herself, unleashing her pain against Alice... who _kept on coming_.

_Bella!_ Jane spotted the dark-haired newborn standing some distance away, face unforgiving. Alice shot out her hands to fling two guards from her path, leaving a clear run between herself and Jane.

And Jane - who had never run from anything since joining the Volturi - turned and bolted. Pausing to shoot a glance over her shoulder, her stomach curled in on itself when she didn't see Alice.

She dropped in front of her, Jane pulling up short. She gasped when Alice immediately seized her around her throat, tensing to fight - except Alice had no intentions of doing this alone.

She shoved Jane into the ground, and the swirling battle around them parted long enough for her to see Sam's looming figure prowling closer. His jaws parted, dropping a ripped-off vampire hand, and he snarled at Jane. She struggled wildly, but Alice still had her vicelike grip on her neck, and dragged her uncompromisingly towards the black wolf. Sam licked his lips, as, with a final glare, Alice thew Jane to the wolves.

Sam acted instantly, pinning Jane's smaller frame down with his paws while she writhed and screamed. She grasped feebly at the thick fur of his chest, finally getting a taste of her own medicine as he snapped at her, ripping her. Then he seized her entire head and snapped it cleanly from her neck - and finally, Aro, standing back with his brothers, acted. He pulled his cloak off to allow for easier movement, and Caius, a sick, eager smile on his face, charged into the fray with him.

He didn't pick the wisest of battles - heading for Tanya, catching her around the throat. Caius was a formidable fighter, and Tanya, though experienced, had never faced an opponent like him. At one time, crossing the Volturi never would have been an option - but times changed. She clawed at the arm he held her with, futilely - but help was not far away.

Garrett roared as she took a running start and put his entire weight behind a kick that sent Caius flying back - right into Kate's waiting hands. She caught him deftly, and the instant her hand touched his collarbone she shocked him, putting all of her anger into her power. Caius screamed. Tanya dropped to one knee, wheezing. "I had him!" she growled at Garrett, who tilted his head in an 'of course you did' expression.

Caius was helpless in Kate's grasp, and Tanya, recovering quickly from his attack, strode over, gold eyes dangerously narrow. Garrett loomed behind them, looking down his nose at the Volturi leader, making no move to assist the sisters. Tanya grabbed the bottom of Caius' gaping jaw, and slowly applied deliberate pressure. With Kate still maintaining contact, he couldn't fight back as Tanya ripped his face in two.

Marcus had been left unprotected as both his brothers strode into battle. Vladimir punched a guard in the face with great relish, when Stefan caught his eye. The Romanians nodded to one another then bolted towards Marcus, who sighed softly and held out his arms in readiness as if to embrace what was to come. "Finally.' He breathed, as Stefan and Vladimir ripped him literally limb from limb.

Aro and Edward broke into a run at the same time. Renata moaned in distress and took off after her master, but Bella, unable to be stopped by the other shield, got in a sharp kick to the cringing vampire that knocked her far enough away for her power to be useless to protect Aro. A wildly snarling Jared fell upon the shield while Bella protected him, though it was only necessary for two bites. Leaving Jared to it she sprang and intercepted Aro before he could reach Edward, who smacked her impatiently across the face. Edward was ready and caught her, though the impact knocked him off his feet. Aro advanced upon them as they sat up, Bella looking more surprised than hurt. She placed her hand over Edward's, who met her gaze, closer now to the vegetarian gold than newborn blood-red.

He gripped her hand tightly in his and swung her into Aro, giving her two solid kicks to his head as she soared over him. Edward seized Aro in a headlock, which the powerful immortal twisted from and braced both palms on Edward's face, pushing with all his might. Bella jumped onto his shoulders, wrapped her fingers around his chin, and hauled back. Edward backed up two steps then kicked Aro's legs out from under him, Bella's grip never faltering as he fell to his knees. Swinging rapidly, Edward dropped his full weight on Aro's back, and Bella was left holding his head. Bella snatched up a torch and came for the last living member of the Volturi, the flames engulfing his vision...

Shocked, Aro dropped Alice's hand and leaned his weight away from her. Alice's eyes were filled with pain, the vision she had showed him causing her no small amount of emotional pain - she had spared nothing to convince him that it was real, that he was _actually_ seeing it.

Aro's head snapped to the enemy. They stood in calm ranks - The Cullens together, Garrett with the Denalis, the Egyptians and Irish covens together, the wolf pack flanking Sam, and those two blasted lingering Romanians side by side. Edward, who had watched the entire vision occur, looked smug.

"Now you know." Alice's glare might have incinerated Aro on the spot. "_That's _your future. Unless you decide on another course."

"We cannot alter our course!" Cauis hissed in Aro's right ear. He, of course, had no inkling of what Aro had just beheld, or the consequences it would hold for him. "The child still poses a grave threat."

But, Aro already knew, the threat was to them. If they struck now, they would loose everything... and their would be other chances but this one. But _oh_... how he _wanted _them. Alice, Benjamin, Zafrina, Bella... but it was not to be, today. Not today.

The sound of two approaching sets of footsteps and a single heartbeat heralded the arrival of the calvary.

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**A/N - This wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it. I was beyond shock watching the vision - Twilight as an attraction to me, had never been about Bella/Edward/Jacob - it's the Cullen and Denali families, the other covens, the wolf packs, the dynamics of their interactions, that really make the series enjoyable for me. Carlisle and Jasper's death were horrific enough, but when Seth died, I got really emotional. Though I'm not overly fond of Leah, her death scene was undeniably touching. **

**I've tried to include everything that happened in the movie scene here, aside form Santiago leaving the chase for Jacob. (For anyone curious as to why I had it happen this way, it was the only part of the battle that didn't flow naturally in my eyes. It was a blatant attempt to hurl some fighting action at Jacob to please fangirls, and I maintain that the physically dominant Santiago with no tracking skills would not have been able to catch up to Jacob anyway :)) **

**There may be minor errors which you can chalk up to my artistic license, and you'll some of the more background movie characters have larger roles. Some scenes have been minorly adjusted to include my sequence of events. **

**The wolf who died at Benjamin's feet I left ambiguous purposefully - being grey-furred, it would most likely be Paul or Embry. Though neither are shown dying on-screen in the later stage of the battle you see a grey wolf who has died lying in the snow for a few frames. **

**I was tempted to make this into the potential future Alice saw that would have led to Bella and Edward dying (the reason that she needed J's papers for only Nessie and Jacob is, as Bella realizes, if she and Edward were with them they could get their hands on makeshift papers.) but I choose to stay closer to the movie scene, and also avoid the risk of being lynched by rabid Ed/Bella fans :D **

**The title for this fanfic came from a lyric based on the old saying, from the Florence and the Machine song "Shake it Out". **

**Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! **


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